


hand over the future

by Kirbita22



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/M, Implied Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-13 22:20:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14122056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirbita22/pseuds/Kirbita22
Summary: Roderich runs his hands over his hair, nervous, frustrated, terrified. "We've been ordered to stop the end of the world in three months tops, and all we're given to do it is this... collection of scraps and broken shards?". The words echo off the walls, and Roderich realizes they're the harshest ones he could have used, because they're the one that hold the most truth.(or; the one in which they're all jaeger pilots.)





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my clusterfuck! I haven't seen Uprising to it'll contain no mechanics spoilers. I hope you enjoy!

It's the middle of the night in some european Shatterdome when Roderich Edelstein, sitting in the middle of a nearly empty room, slumped forward in a decidedly uncharacteristic manner, opens his mouth only to find his throath so dry he almost can't get out the words. "Could you read me that list again, please?".

Standing besides him, commander Héderváry nods, and recites: "The Beilschmidt brothers- one of the Beilschmidt brothers" she smiles wryly as she catches herself, in that way that isn't really a smile, that way he hates to see on her. "The Vargas brothers. Kirkland and Bonnefoy, who I doubt would agree to copilot a Jaeger again. Wang. Fernández Carriedo. Alfred and Matthew. The Braginsky siblings. And one rookie by the name of Kiku Honda." 

He runs the list over in his head again and again, trying to keep the dawning horror at bay. "Is that all we've got?" he asks, his voice as still as he can keep it.

She takes a minute to answer. "Well" she says softly, finding her husband's trembling hands and holding them in hers. "We always have Dual Monarch to fall back on, if we're really desperate for stable teams."

In all honesty, the list is bigger than he thought they'd manage to put together; but he's not quite sure it matters as much as the fact that, well. There's so many loose variables in the equation from the word go, just hearing the names. There may be no shortage of Jaegers, and thank god there was no shortage of pilots- but figuring out the least volatile configuration for who to put together in what machine would be a nightmare.

Roderich runs his hands over his hair, nervous, frustrated, terrified. "We've been ordered to stop the end of the world in three months tops, and all we're given to do it is this... collection of scraps and broken shards?". The words echo off the walls, and Roderich realizes they're the harshest ones he could have used, because they're the one that hold the most truth.

When he finally looks up at her he finds Erzsébet smiling, tired and scared just as he is; but behind her eyes, he can see the spark of determination he usually only ever gets to see when they both stand inside a Jaeger. "I guess we better start putting the pieces together, then."


	2. the first

When Commander Erzsébet Héderváry and her husband get to the Shatterdome the UN has designated as the base of operations for the Jaeger project's last stand, it comes to her attention that they were not the first ones to get there.

She finds Arthur Kirkland first; she comes across him in the hallways, as he's wheeling a tank full of Kaiju innards in the direction of the facility's research wing with a scowl on his face. Inmediately a nasty feeling begins to form in her stomach, as she tries desperately to remember if, after agreeing to join the last efforts of the war on Kaijus, the former ranger had ever stated he intended to step into a Jaeger again. 

She considers chasing after him to ask if he's here as the fighter he was or just as the renowed k-scientist he's become, but Erzsébet has more pressing matters to attend to right now. (Plus, she figures she honestly should have realized earlier. She mentally scratches Kirkland off the list of pilots.)

She finds the rookie next, practicing in the Combat Room. As soon as he sees her walk in, he stops what he's doing and salutes. 

"Ranger Kiku Honda, right?" she asks, just to make sure, and recieves a nod in response. She leans on one of the pillars, tilting her head. "You're the only student the Academy has deemed ready enough for combat to fight in the big leagues, then. What's your simulator score again?"

"60 drops, 60 kills, Commander." The young man recites the numbers with a perfectly stoic expression, no cockiness or arrogance on sight, which Erzsébet finds more impressive than his 100% kill ratio. She's still not quite sure what to make of him; she supposes she'll see sooner rather than later, with the compatibility tests starting the moment all participating rangers are in the Shatterdome.

She finds the Beilschmidt brothers last, in the control room chatting with Roderich. She sees them from the hallway and curses under her breath, because she thought she'd have a little more time before she had to deal with Gilbert- but to be fair, she should have known that they'd be the first on site; Ludwig's never late to anything, and especially not to something as big as this.

The two were once world-renowed pilots, with their Deutscheradler holding an impressive track record of 10 confirmed kills. But Gilbert had been a Ranger a lot longer than his baby brother, and the radiation had taken its toll on him; the pair had been forced to retire a little over half a year ago, when the doctors had given the eldest an ultimatum: if he piloted a Jaeger again, he would not live past his forties, at best.

Ludwig hadn't wanted to take any co-pilot other than his brother, and for a while, that was that. But upon hearing this operation might as well be humanity's last shot (the Beilschmidts believed in the Wall about as much as she and Roderich did, which is to say, not at all), he had agreed to go back to being a Ranger, even with his brother constrained to the sidelines.

So for now, finding Ludwig a suitable partner was one of their priorities. He was drift-compatible with Roderich (not a very strong connection, but it would do in a pinch), but in all honesty Erzsébet would much rather not throw her husband out there unless she absolutely had to.

Gilbert spots her staring through the windows and winks at her. She forces a smile and tries her best not to run up to him and punch him (but only because of his delicate condition), and walks into the room to rescue her husband from Ludwig's awkwardness and Gil's harrasment.


	3. compatibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOF SORRY THIS CHAPTER'S REAL LATE!! In my defense it's a lot longer than the previous two; I kept trying to trim down this chapter, but there were a lot of things that needed to happen here and in Kiku's POV, and it felt weird to cut it off and continue in the next chapter, so it kind of kept going...
> 
> Also, a heads up: I'm using François for France instead of Francis because I honestly feel it fits him better, and I never liked his "canon" name sjfbskd. My apologies to everyone who associates that name w his 2P ver :^)
> 
> (also alfred was REAL HARD TO WRITE and i dont even know why oops??)
> 
> I hope you enjoy!!

Recent Academy graduate Kiku Honda surveys the small crowd around him. They're all standing in the training room, where he was practicing by himself until other people started trickling in slowly, all in appropiate clothes for sparring. It's only logical to assume the compatibiliy tests are beginning.

All of the people in the room with him are highly recognized and accomplished pilots, all of whom Kiku respects a great deal. (Well, almost all. He pointedly does not linger on Wang for too long.) He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little starstruck, but with the safety of millions on the line, he can't afford to be nervous; so he steels himself and looks to the front of the room, where Roderich Edelstein, head of operations in the Shatterdome, clears his throath to get everyone's attention.

"Good morning, Rangers. Now that everyone's here..." he interrupts himself and eyes the crowd over, frowning. "Well. Now that _almost_ everyone's here, we will begin with the compatibility tests. You all know the rules already, and we remind you that we'd really appreciate it if you didn't hurt each other badly. We'll have two hours for now, and two hours in the afternoon. Priority number one is finding copilots for all the rangers who don't have one already, but you'll all be sparring with pretty much everyone you don't know if you're compatible or not with." 

"Hey, uh, full offense, but some of us are perfectly functional teams already?" someone- one of the Vargas twins, Kiku recognizes- speaks up while gesturing widely at himself and his brother. 

"Yeah, about that." Edelstein continues entirely unfethered. "Everyone's going to do as many compatibility tests as possible, regardless of whether or not you already have a partner. We're aiming for flexibility here, so we need to know how many possible jaeger-piloting pairs we have and then decide what configuration is best."

The young man does not seem very satisfied with this. He opens his mouth as to reply something, but closes it again. Eventually, the other Vargas twin tugs at his uniform, and he sits down grumbling. So much for that, Kiku supposes. 

"So now that we're all in agreement about that" Edelstein continues, as though there had been no interruptions, "let's get started."

* * *

The first matchup of the day is François Bonnefoy versus himself. The frenchman offers him a smile and a curtsy, which Kiku responds to with a simple bow, and the fight begins.

The older man's style is very refined, and full of unnecessary showmanship; but Kiku can tell that he has quite a lot of strenght and experience. He gets the feeling his opponent could probably have given him a serious challenge if he'd wanted to, but he's purposefully holding back to make it easier on him. Kiku can understand that- this is, after all, a compatibility test and not a competition, and knocking out your opponent in three seconds just because you can doesn't necessarily prove anything- but in any case, it says quite a lot about the man. And coupled with how largely average the fight itself was, what it tells Kiku is that they are not drift-compatible.

The second matchup, Bonnefoy v. Beilschmidt,  is not quite as unremarkable, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons. Those reasons being that the German doesn't seem to particularly care about seeing if their fighting styles are compatible, given the fact that he just scored four hits in quick succession without giving his opponent any room to recover.

"Hey, hey, hey, Lud, what the fuck?" the elder Beilschmidt exclaims as Ludwig lowers his staff, which had been frozen half an inch away from Bonnefoy's face a second ago. (Bonnefoy himself proceeds to take this chance to sneak away, looking more terrified than is likely reasonable.) "You're looking for copilots, not enemies!"

The younger Beilschmidt, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be the least bit sorry. "If my opponent can't keep up with me, he could not have been my copilot. Drift compatibility is important, but first and foremost I'm looking for someone who will not dissapoint in the battlefield." He says this sharply, and a bit louder than strictly necessary, but he looks calm. Kiku gets the vague impression this speech was practiced beforehand; he doesn't have a clue as to why the man is being so difficult, but. Regardless.

Kiku lets a small, thin smile play on his lips. No matter what the reasons are, the fighting style and pace Ludwig insists on upholding is a bit more his speed than the first match. Before anyone replies to the blond and manages to knock some sense into him, he steps forward to face him. His opponent raises an eyebrow; he only smiles cordially in response. "If that is what you are looking for, I believe we might make a good match, if you'll allow me to try." 

Ludwig doesn't look too convinced, but he nods and bows at the same time Kiku does, and the fight begins.

He moves fast, but Kiku's faster. He blocks the bigger man's hit with his own weapon without flinching, and the both of them stay locked in that position for a few seconds, each considering their next move. Kiku moves to push his weapon out of his way and move in for an attack, which Ludwig doesn't block but dodge, and another, which he does blocks and inmediately pushes past. They trade blows like this for a few seconds, until finally, a point is scored: one-zero, in favour of Honda.

At this point, he sort of expected Ludwig might become angry at being shown up by a rookie- the way the man had dispatched Bonnefoy struck him as quite an arrogant, better-than-you type of person. So when he takes a second to look at his oponent's eyes, Kiku is pleasantly surprised to instead find not a single spark of hatred or resentment, but instead a surprised curiosity and determination. In short- his opponent was enjoying this match as much as he was.

Both of them move in sync, each trying to outmatch their opponent; not out of any sense of finishing the fight as fast as possible- at least not anymore- but simply for the sake of the fight itself.

In the end, Ludwig's experience gives him a slight edge and wins him the fight, though only by one point. More importantly, though, when they meet each other's eyes again while the other rangers clap, Kiku knows they're both thinking the same thing: they're definitely drift compatible.

The second thing Kiku notices in his eyes, though, is a feeling of intense relief. He finds this surprising; if he's so relieved to find someone who's drift-compatible, why did he seem to be almost deliberately sabotaging his own chances of finding one? Kiku doesn't quite know what to make of him. 

Before he can consider asking about it, however, Edelstein's voice cuts through from the back: "Next up! Yao Wang and Kiku Honda-" 

"We are not drift compatible." He says those words as fast as he possibly can without sounding impolite. (He probably failed on that last part a bit. That's fine.)

Edelstein stops talking, seemingly taken aback. He then turns to look at Wang and raises an eyebrow in wordless questioning.

Kiku refuses to look, but he does hear a very uncomfortable "...Yes, that's correct." from behind him. Still looking a little confused, Edelstein nods and motions at Kiku to go back to the crowd. He bows and does so.

* * *

A few more matches have gone by already when the door to the training room slams open. Kiku, standing near the front and away from the door, hears the new arrivals before he sees them. Or, at least, he hears one of them.

"Ah, so HERE'S the training room! Kind of hard to find, right? Lucky we got here before lunchtime! Ha ha!"

The man Kiku recognizes as one of the pilots of the mark IV Destiny Brave, Alfred F. Jones, jovially pushes his way to the front of the training room, where Edelstein is tapping his foot, entirely unamused. "Ah, so you DID decide to grace us with your presence, Mr. Jones. I'm afraid we've mostly run out of time by now, so you'll have to do your tests when we all come back later."

But Jones seems to either not have heard or not have payed any mind (likely the latter, much to Edelstein's dismay). Instead, he goes around the room greeting everyone and high-fiving anyone who will high-five him back. It's during this conmotion that Kiku realizes Jones is not the only person who entered the room; a visibly distressed young man who he identifies as the other pilot of Destiny Brave (M... Matt? Will? Something?) is chasing Jones around, seemingly trying to say something.

When the American ranger gets to him, he does a double take. "Hey, who's this? Are you a new pilot?" he asks, stopping for the first time since he entered the room. This close, Kiku would swear there's something shining behind the man's bright blue eyes.

But he bows and says "Yes. My name is Kiku Honda, and I am the most recent Jaeger Academy graduate. It's an honor to meet you."

"And he'll likely be the last, with how things are going." Edelstein remarks from the front of the room. "Gentlemen, I must remind you, we are in dire circumstances here. We have less than six months to do the impossible, the next Kaiju attack is predicted to show up in less than a week, and we _cannot_ afford to waste time when we should be doing everything within our reach to _be prepared! Have I made myself clear?_ "

Jones stays quiet for a moment, which Kiku interprets (misinterprets) to mean Edelstein has managed to get him to understand the gravity of the situation. This, of course, is dispelled inmediately when Jones grabs the nearest pair of weapons, throws one of them at Kiku, and says "Okay, let's do the test thing!"

At a loss, Kiku turns to look at Edelstein, who just stares back for a few seconds before giving him the most tired gesture of "go ahead" Kiku has seen in his life.

So the final matchup of the morning is Jones versus himself. It's a mildly erratic fight, because Jones keeps surprising him by throwing out moves he'd never expect; but his reflexes are better than his opponent might have expected, and kept blocking or dodging them.

 The strangest thing about this fight, however, was how easy it came. Kiku wasn't thinking, as he usually does, of strategy, or of weak points, or of technique: he was simply _doing_ , and it came as naturally as breathing. If asked, in that very moment, he might have said it was less a fight and more a dance.

It ends 3 to 4 in Kiku's favor. And Kiku understands then and there that this is what it really means to be truly and fully drift-compatible with someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter's like, noticeably worse? But i could physically feel the Inspiration(tm) leaving me, and this fic had gathered too much support already to just let it die, so i sat down and forced myself to write the next chapter.
> 
> On that note, thank you so much @ everyone who commented and kudo'd! I wouldn't be here without y'all. Literally. This fic would be dead otherwise. I OWE YALL MY LIFE, THANK U FOR MOTIVATING ME OUT OF MY ENDLESS UNFINISHED FIC LOOP!!! I LOVE YALL!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to comment any criticism, opinion or question you may have! I'd love to hear some feedback!


End file.
